For housing societies or commercial units constructed more than 30 year old ago and are planning to undertake repairs or strengthening work, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has made it mandatory to get the structure audited from a certified auditor beforehand. Those societies or commercial units failing to adhere by the guidelines laid by the civic administration, in event of any disaster, the concerned societies secretary or president will be held responsible.
The civic administration has made it mandatory upon the societies to get the due permission for any form of repairs or maintenance work through NMMC certified auditors. “Under the unified development and promotions Regulation for the state as well as the Maharashtra regional and town planning act 1966, for undertaking any kind of repair work in residential or commercial units, be it internal or external, it is mandatory to appoint a certified structural auditor to the get the necessary sanctions from the town planning department,” said an official. Meanwhile, residents feel that it is a nexus between the officials and builders. They claim that in the name of getting structural audit done, they would declare a building dilapidated and push for redevelopment. “Buildings in Navi Mumbai are being maintained through co-operative housing societies. Residents take care of their buildings and paint them on time. It is not possible for buildings to become dangerous in 30 years, This is a tactic to make personal gain for the builder lobby which the corporation is felicitating,” Ravindra Sawant, Spokesperson Navi Mumbai Congress who have been actively vocal against the builder lobby pushing for redevelopment, said.
NMMC has already released the list of dangerous and dilapidated buildings following a city wide survey. Corporation has also issued notices seeking from buildings constructed more than 30 years to compulsorily get the structural audit conducted. The emphasis on structural audit and certified auditor is being laid to avert incidents of building collapse as seen in the past. “As per the bye laws it is legally provisioned for buildings that have completed 15 to 30 years to get structural audit done once in every five years. For those buildings more than 30 years old the legal provision is to have structural audit done once in every three years before undertaking any kind of repair work. But in the city, there has been instances wherein societies have directly undertaken repair work resulting to entire building collapsing without following the due process,” informed the official.
“Navi Mumbai is just 50 years old city. A cement concrete structured building with regular maintenance can stand for 60 years. NMMC should concentrate on illegally built buildings. There are former corporators turned builders and agents of builders who are interested in getting the redevelopment done. If a particular housing society appoints private person for audit, they are not allowed to do their work by the same lobby who have vested interest in getting the building declared unsafe and then get a contract for redevelopment,” Anil Kumar Singh, a Vashi resident whose cidco-built building has gone for redevelopment even the residents claimed that it was not dilapidated.
